Door fastener



Sept. 27, 1960 G. s. KINDEL ETAL DOOR FASTENER Filed April 12, 1957 FIGI FIGZ

FIG.3

.e .45 w? H mm a E 7 /WW i m w Z GWW United States Patent noon FASTENER Georg Sigfried Kindel-and Franz Gottfried Renter, Lemforde, Hannover, Germany, assignors, by mesne assignments, to Mobay Chemical Company, Pittsburgh, Pa.,

' a corporation of Delaware 7 Filed Apr. 12, 1957, Ser. No. 652,572 I 2 Claims. (Cl. 292-340) This invention relates generally to a means for fastening a door and, more particularly, to a novel door latching means adapted for securing a door of a vehicle in a closed position.

Ordinarily, the door of a vehicle is provided with a latching means which cooperates with a bolt keeper mounted on the door frame to hold the door in a closed position. The vehicle door is also provided with a projecting knob that engages a stop mounted on the door frame to stop the door as it is closed at the desired position with respect to' the door frame.

It is more or less customary to make the door stop and the latch bolt keeper in separate pieces. Each of these pieces is ordinarily made from metal, either by a suitable casting process or by a cold working process. The door stop and the latch bolt keeper are usually spaced apart on the frame. It is also the practice in some vehicles to mount the latch bolt keeper and the door stop on a common plate which, in turn, is mounted on the door frame. In this type of a fastening means, the door stop may be in the form of V-shaped jaws which may be formed from metal or rubber and the latch is usually made from metal in order to provide the desired characteristics in each of the two components of the door fastening means. In some of the more complex units the stop may be of metal and have a plastic insert backed by a spring which absorbs some of the energy as the door is closed. These various types of keeper and door stops made either from the metal or hard rubber have not been entirely suitable for use in conjunction with the latch of vehicle doors because if rubber is used as the door stop, the door stop and latch keeper cannot be in one piece because the latch keeper must be made of harder material which in the past has usually been a metal. It is also difficult to secure the rubber jaws of the door stop to a metal plate so an entirely satisfactory one-piece door stop and latch bolt keeper has not been available heretofore.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide an improved door stop and latch bolt keeper. Another object of the invention is to provide a novel one-piece member having integral door stop and bolt keeper means. Still another object of the invention is to provide an improved one-piece latch bolt keeper and door stop adapted for mounting on the door frame of a vehicle to cooperate with the latch bolt of a door lock.

Other objects will become apparent from the following description with reference to the accompanying drawing in which:

Figure 1 is a plan view of a plate provided with a door stop and bolt keeper forming one embodiment of the invention; v

Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line IIII of Figure 1; and

Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line IIIIII of Figure 1.

Generally speaking, the objects of the invention are accomplished by providing a door stop with a latch bolt keeper and a door lock which have been shaped from a 2,954,254 Patented Sept. 27, 1960 latch bolt keeper are preferably integral with a common plate adapted to be mounted on a door frame in a position where they will'cooperate with the latch bolt and projecting guide bar or-kno-b on the door properly to stop and hold the door in a desired closed position.

The polyurethane plastic may be prepared by reacting any suitable organic compound having active hydrogen atoms with a polyisocyanate to produce a high molecular weight rubber-like substantially non-porous product. The organic compound having the active hydrogen atoms preferably has terminal hydroxyl groups and may be a linear or substantially linear polyester, polyester amide, polyalkylene ether glycol or polyalkylene thioether glycol having terminal hydroxyl groups. The polyester may be prepared by reacting a suitable polyhydric alcohol and preferably a glycol with a suitable dicarboxylic acid to form a polyester having terminal hydroxyl groups. In other words, it is preferred to use an excess of glycol in order that the terminal groups will be hydroxyl rather than carboxyl. The polyalkylene ether glycol may be prepared from ethylene oxide or other suitable process from about 20 to about 80 which corresponds to a percentage of from about 0.6 to about 2.4% OH by weight.

The organic compound having the reactive hydrogen atom is reacted with a polyisocyanate and cross linked to provide the polyurethane plastic from which the locking mechanism is shaped. Preferably the molecular weight of the polyurethane is at least about 800. Suitable crosslinking agents are glycols, diamines, amino alcohols, or water and any of the rubber-like materials which are sufficiently elastic for making the jaws of the door stop and sufliciently hard for making the bolt keeper may be used. Methods for making suitable rubber-like polyurethane plastics are found in US. Patents 2,620,516, 2,621,166 and 2,729,618.

It has been found in accordance with this invention that the mounting plate, door stop and bolt keeper may all be shaped from a polyurethane plastic because polyurethane plastics combining the required hardness for the latch keeper and the required elasticity to be suitable for making the jaws of a door stop may be prepared. It is therefore possible to provide a one-piece device which embodies both the door stop and the bolt keeper. The entire device may be of the same hardness and elasticity or, in some instances, it may be desirable to mold the plate and/ or bolt keeper from a composition producing a plastic of one hardness and molding the door stop from a composition which produces a softer and more elastic polyurethane plastic. However, in most instances, the plate door stop and door keeper can all be molded or otherwise shaped from the same polyurethane plastic composition. It is preferred to form the device by molding, but any other suitable means, such as cutting, may be used in shaping the door stop, bolt keeper and mounting plate.

In molding a one-piece stop and keeper from diiferent compositions, the desired molding composition for one part may be poured into the mold and allowed to partially solidify and then the other composition may be poured into the mold and cured. The finished product will be a one-piece product because the two compositions will merge at the interface.

Any suitable polyisocyanate, but preferably a diisocyanate, may be utilized. Examples of such diisocyanates are disclosed in the aforesaid patents and include 2,4-

toluylene diisocyanate, 2,6.-toluylene diisocyanate, p-phenylene diisocyanate, 4,4-diphenyl methane diisocyanate, 1,5-naphthylene diisocyanate, dibenzidene diisocyanate and benzidene diisocyanate. From about 20% to about 250% excess diisocyanate over that required to react with all of the reactive hydrogen atoms of the organic compound should be used and the reaction is usually carried out at temperatures of from about 80 C. to about 180 C.

Any of the various cross-linking agents disclosed in the foregoing patents may be utilized, including, for example, ethylene glycol, 1,2-propylene glycol, 1,3-butylene glycol, amino propanol, fi-amino propanol, gammaamino alcohol and the like.

In preparing. the polyurethane plastic, the organic compound having the reactive hydrogen atoms may be reacted with an excess of the polyisocyanate to prepare an intermediate product having unreacted NCO groups and this prepolymer or adduct may later be cross-linked by adding one of the chain extenders or cross-linkers mentioned above thereto and heating to bring about chemical reaction.

In order to be suitable for making a satisfactory door stop, the polyurethane plastic should have a Shore hardness of from about 70 to about 100 and an elastic rebound of at least about 40%. A Shore hardness within the above range is required in order for the polyurethane plastic to be suitable for making the bolt keeper.

Referring now to the drawing, plate 1 adapted to be mounted to a door frame by inserting suitable bolts through perforations is provided with integral V-shaped jaws 3 which cooperate with a projecting guide member or protuberance on a door to stop the door at a desired point with respect to the door frame. As the door is closed the protuberance enters the jaws and brings the door to a stop When it strikes the closed end of the V-shaped jaws. The jaws 3 and 4 of the door stop are shown in cross-section in Figure 2. At one end of the plate 1, a wedge-shaped bolt keeper 2 is provided. Although it is preferred that plate 1 be a unitary structure having bolt keeper 2 and jaws 3 and 4, it is possible to use two plates with the keeper 2 being separate from plate 1. If desired, perforations 5 may be lined with a metal insert.

The following examples are typical embodiments of suitable compositions and methods for preparing the bolt keeper and door stop provided by this invention.

Example 1 1,000 parts of a linear hydroxyl polyester obtained by thermal esterification of adipic acid with ethylene glycol and characterized by having a molecular weight of 2,000 and hydroxyl number of 50 and an acid number of 1 is heated at 135 C. in vacuo for 1 hour in order to completely remove the moisture contained there in. Then 3 parts of molybdenum disulfide, particle size 0.01 mm. (in diameter), 3 parts of a dimethyl-siloxane polymer with a viscosity of 140 centistokes/20 C. and 2 parts of solid parafiin are added. Subsequently, 300 parts of naphthylene-1,5-diisocyanate are introduced into the mixture. The components are allowed to react for minutes in vacuo. Thereupon, 70 parts of 1,4-butanediol containing 1% of dry hydrogen chloride are added within 1 minute to the melt with vigorous stirring. The resulting product is poured into heated molds for door stop and keeper where it is maintained for 24 hours at 110 C. to produce a cured rubber-like material. The elastomer thus obtained is black and distinguished by the particular properties of its surface. The cured rubberlike material has a Shore-hardness of about 90 and an elastic rebound of about 40% Example 2 1,000 parts of a linear hydroxyl polyether obtained by thermal condensation of thiodiglycol (1,220 parts) 7 with ethylene glycol (620 parts). in: the presence of 0.25% of p-toluene-sulfonic acid-methylester and characteri'zed by having an OH' numberof 63' aremixed with 190 parts of 1,5-naphthylene diisocyanateby stirring at 124 C. 2.5 parts of molybdenum. disulfide, particle size 0.02 mm. (in diameter), and 2 parts of dimethyl-siloxane polymer with a viscosity of 50 centistokes/ 20 C. are added to this. mixture. The mixture is allowed to react for 9 minutes in vacuo. Thereupon 21 parts of 1,4-butylene glycol are added within 1 minute to the melt with vigorous stirring.

The resulting product is pouredinto molds for door stop and keeper and heated for a further 24 hours at 110 C. to produce a cured rubber-like material with outstanding friction properties. The cured rubber-like material has a Shore-hardness from about and an elastic rebound of about 40% Although the invention has been described inconsiderable detail in the foregoing for the purpose of illustration, it is to be understood that such detail is solely for this purpose and that variations can be made by those skilled in the art Without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention except as is set forth in the claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A vehicle door locking mechanism consisting essentially of a base plate adapted for mounting on the frame of a vehicle, said base plate having integral substantially V-shaped' jaws which project. outwardly therefrom, form a closed end and are adapted to receive, fit snugly about, and stop an abutment carried by a vehicle door, and a bolt keeper spaced from said jaws; said base plate, v-shaped jaws and bolt keeper being a one-piece molded rubber-like polyurethane mechanism having a Shore A hardness of from about 70 to about and an elastic rebound of at least about 40%, said abutment and closed end cooperating to hold a bolt carried by said door firmly against said bolt keeper.

2. A vehicle door locking mechanism comprising a base plate adapted for mounting on the frame of a vehicle, said base plate having projecting integral substantially V-shaped jaws which form a closed end and are adapted to receive, fit snugly about, and stop an abutment carried by a vehicle door, and a bolt keeper spaced from said jaws; said base plate, ti-shaped jaws and bolt keeper being a oneapiece molded rubber-like polyurethane mechanism having a Shore A hardness of about 90 and an elastic rebound of at least about 40%, said abutment and closed end cooperating tohold a bolt carried by said door firmly against said bolt keeper.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,093,465 Claud-Mantle Sept. 21, 1937 2,187,530 Butler Jan. 16, 1940 2,187,531 Butler Ian. 16, 1940' 2,499,165 Roethel Feb. 28; 1950 2,620,516 Muller Dec. 9, 1952 2,761,722 Wilfert et al Sept. 4, 1956' FOREIGN PATENTS 308,891 Italy June 19, 1933 388,106 Great Britain Feb. 23, 1933 1,058,271 France Mar. 15, 1954 

